Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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Iain Dale is one of my favourite presenters on LBC and that’s not just because he made my book ‘In My Life’ his Book of the Year in 2018!

After presiding over the head to head encounters between Hunt and Johnson for the Conservative Party Leadership he came straight to the Edinburgh Fringe for his ‘All Talk’ series of interviews. These have been making headlines all week with John McDonnell’s extraordinary shift in Labour policy to supporting a further Scottish referendum on independence and Nicola Sturgeon being floored by Iain’s suggestion that her principal arguments for separation from the UK were precisely those she denounces from those who want Britain to leave the EU.

Having got the important interviewees out of the way I am Iain’s guest for his penultimate show on a soaking wet afternoon in Scotland’s Capital.

We talk about writing, the corrosive nature of today’s political discourse, Corbyn, whether a general election is likely soon and the tragic demise of ‘This Week’ as well as spending half an hour on questions from the ‘full house’ audience.

That evening, Carolyn and I go to see my friend Matt Forde in his one man show. It’s cogent, acutely observant and side-achingly funny. Matt’s portrayal of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson at their first joint press-conference is a masterpiece that deserves a Festival prize. The Perrier perhaps although given the atrocious weather nobody who braved this weekend in Edinburgh would want any further association with water.